A Montana judge said that a law defining sex as “male” and “female” is “unconstitutional.”
District Court Judge Shane Vannatta argued that the law’s description does not clearly state its purpose.
“The title does not give general notice of the character of the legislation in a way that guards against deceptive or misleading titles,” Vannatta wrote.
The law in question, S.B. 458, is an “act generally revising the laws to provide a common definition for the word sex when referring to a human.”
“‘Sex’ means the organization of the body parts and gametes for reproduction in human beings and other organisms. In human beings, there are exactly two sexes, male and female, with two corresponding types of gametes,” the law reads. “The sexes are determined by the biological and genetic indication of male or female, including sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex chromosomes, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual’s psychological, behavioral, social, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.”
Sean Southard, a spokesman for Governor Greg Gianforte (R), told the Associated Press, “Words matter. And this administration is committed to ensuring words have meaning, unlike this judge, who apparently needs a dictionary to discern the difference between a noun and a verb.”
The decision was condemned on social media.
Women’s sports activist Riley Gaines said, “This isn’t a ruling. This is activism.”
Conservative account Libs of TikTok similarly criticized the move, writing, “UNBELIEVABLE.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, however, celebrated the ruling.
Alex Rate, ACLU of Montana legal director, stated, “Today’s ruling is an important vindication of the safeguards that the Montana Constitution places on legislative enactments.”
